Getting Answers: “Nobody Asked the People Who Work There”

On Western Mass News’ Getting Answers, developers Jeb Balise and Dinesh Patel sat down with host Dave Madsen to explain why they are challenging the state’s decision to award the $2 billion Springfield Regional Justice Center to Liberty Junction, the Stonewater-backed group.

They are not alone. Hundreds of trial court employees support them, along with District Attorney Anthony Gulluni, the sheriff, the mayor, the clerk of courts, the register of deeds and the register of probate. “We’re not reaching out to them,” Balise said. “They’re reaching out to us.”

Their case centers on downtown. The current courthouse sits inside the Metro Center business improvement district, which Patel calls one of the safest and best-maintained areas in the city. Balise warns that moving the courthouse out of the core would hurt a gateway city the state is otherwise working to strengthen, at a long-term social cost far greater than the price of the building.

Neither man is asking to win. Both say they would gladly lose to any proposal that keeps the courthouse downtown. What they want is a fair process and a rebid.

Watch the full interview: https://www.westernmassnews.com/video/2026/10/04/getting-answers-oct-4/